Stig

The Conway of earlier in the season is miles ahead of Johnston (who is not a left back and a liability there). I'd have been using these last few games to see if we can play Conway back to form, otherwise we're stuck with Johnston at left back and it'll be a massive weak link

Plymouth are one of those clubs who can summon a mass of neutrals/semi interested folk who fancy a day out as the only club in their county has made it to a final. Oxford was similar. Of all the players off contenders we'd only outnumber Stockport. Stevenage and Luton will also get a ton of day trippers who support other London clubs in the main but are local enough to fancy watching a match. Bradford will be the novelty factor as said.

No way on the penalty. His arm comes out from the unnatural position behind his back as he's turning away from the ball into a more natural position by his side for balance. That coincides with the PSG player blasting the ball into his thigh and then ricochets onto his arm, which is then pushed back by the force of the ball. At no point is he intentionally looking to handle the ball or have his arm in an unnatural position (apart from the bits where he has his arms behind his back to try to guard against poor refereeing)

Also how good does Kane look with these players alongside him? Drifts wherever he wants, plays other forwards in. Meanwhile England will have him isolated up front and then taking corners or something

I just can't imagine celebrating any goal fully knowing someone has to forensically find reasons to disallow it

Football at its peak ruined by referees and VAR

Pretty much the same standard as port vale away this.... Unbelievable watch this - levels above the premier League.

Correct. I think it makes for a worse spectacle as a neutral when teams can't sell all their home tickets but we'll be there or thereabouts if we restrict the opposition to 2k

I think they'll have to give us a bit on the side as that away end only holds 1644. Not as much as last weekend but enough to top it up to 2k. We'll do the same and just give them the upper tier of the south, which is handily 2064 seats so we don't really lose out on segregation. It's just annoying if we end up playing in one of the other tiny stadiums and still have to give them 2k for 1k in return

2k or 10%, whichever is lower, is what you have to give in the play offs for away allocation. So can only see us getting the full 2k at Bradford. All others we'll have to give 2k but get a smaller allocation back

Johnston at left back... I'm really not a fan of it. Would rather try to get Conway back to form than play Johnston out of position

The other 3 are rapid, just not sure Burstow for Dalby makes any difference to the overall pace stats as both are slow. And that's not an issue, their game isn't pace, it's being in the right position for headers, chances in the box etc and tussling with centre backs.

Yeah the chanting tails off very quickly once the extent of the disaster becomes obvious. It's a proper could have happened to any stadium moment. Horrendous.

A few pundits tried to bring that in as a term back when Pirlo was at his peak around 2010 and I was glad it didn't stick then and don't want to hear it again

Really bad knock for him at Cardiff that he soldiered through but wouldn't surprise me if that's the end of his season

It's also all the other creditors, like local businesses who will be owed thousands on unpaid invoices, which is why the rule exists.

Which one?

I still don't like the sound of a Rodriguez and Sheehan midfield 2 in a tough play off match. Add Gale and ACD on the wings and that whole midfield is so lightweight. Played well last night I agree, but I'd be tempted to put EE in there for someone, especially in the away leg and final.

Great work by Kenny to keep niggling at him to draw that reaction. He's got much more of a shithouse streak to him than we've seen from our players for quite some time. Excellent to see. I think my main takeaway from this game though, is we have to do everything possible to get 3rd or 4th - those are the kinds of decisions you can force at home.

I'd say the Dougie Freedman seasons (after the first one) were worse. And the Lennon season we got relegated as I've blanked most of those seasons from my memory completely. But the relegation season in 18/19 can't be beat surely, players not being paid as we limply got relegated and nearly went out of business. This season has just been a mess in terms of no style of play and not being able to match the expectation we have, but we've had loads of great moments that weren't miserable, Huddersfield, Wigan x 2, Wycombe, Cardiff home, Plymouth away. I will say i've never known a team be so difficult to watch though. To have no control in almost all our games, yet be a promotion challenger is crazy

Exact same here. Probably the adult too in fairness after watching today

Can't disagree with that. The whole style of play is so negative. Throwing backwards and not crossing in, instead passing back to the goalie to hoof it, is a plague on football in general and we are stuck doing it. The only thing I would just challenge is Dalby MOTM. Yes he puts himself about and I'm pleased with his physical presence but can he actually kick a ball? He's getting no service but he can't make anything for himself either. He seems to need specific service of balls in the box or rebounds to tap in to score. I struggle with him being MOTM just for tussling for the ball

Agreed. What chances did we make today to not take..? We had the odd game at the start of the season where we could say that was the case (Burton and Northampton away come to mind) but since November the pattern has been that we don't create much at all and score about the amount you'd expect on those low chances. Meanwhile we concede almost immediately under any pressure, regardless of chance quality. Today was actually better than usual defensively (from a stats point of view) as we should have conceded much earlier than we did.

As a 2 no chance. They're even more lightweight than Dempsey and Sheehan. We need an extra body in there, either Erhahon or Simons once fit

Yeah but they're not an anomaly. There's always a team getting around their level of points leading the way. It's like saying if Portsmouth weren't there (getting 97 points) 2 years ago we'd have gone up. I mean it's technically correct but I don't see what the argument is other than "If better teams than us weren't in the division we'd be the best"